


Nous sommes nos choix

by everything_that_is_the_case



Category: History Boys (2006), History Boys - All Media Types
Genre: Engagement, I really tried to make it happy, Is it happy?, It has Noel Coward songs, M/M, Music, Song Lyrics, Wedding Fluff, referenced mental health issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-03
Updated: 2019-03-03
Packaged: 2019-11-08 17:23:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17985449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/everything_that_is_the_case/pseuds/everything_that_is_the_case
Summary: Scripps grinned and Posner squealed as he whirled him round the room. Posner giggled as they slowed down, resting his head on Scripps’ shoulder, beaming. Scripps raised his arm, laughing as Posner twirled underneath it. The candlelight reflected off Posner’s shining eyes, bringing out the piercing blue. His face was a picture of joy.Scripps smiled.“You don’t look 50, you know,”Posner kissed his cheek.“You’re a filthy liar, Donald Scripps, and you know it,”Scripps spun him round and dropped him low to the ground, gazing into his gleaming sapphire eyes.“Do you want your present yet?” he murmured, pulling Posner up to face him.Posner clapped his hands excitedly.“There’s more? Yes please!”In which Scripps wants to make something official





	Nous sommes nos choix

**Author's Note:**

> It's me! Apparently, you've been enjoying not only my writing, but my awkward notes, and trust me, there's more where that came from! I wrote a proper happy ending, I think, and kept it mainly happy all the way through. It was a challenge, I can assure you. I've rated this Teen and up due to some language.  
> The title means We are our choices, rather poignant, one thinks, for the first section. It's a quote from Jean-Paul Sartre, does he sound familiar? (He was good at golf, so I hear!)  
> Enjoy, comment and leave kudos if you think it's worth it!  
> "And in the end, we were just humans..... drunk on the idea that love, only love, could heal our brokenness,"  
> \- Christopher Poindexter

Posner walked into the living room and stopped, shocked.

“Oh Don,” he gasped, pressing a hand to his chest. “It’s beautiful,”

Scripps stood in the centre of the room, grinning lopsidedly. The furniture was decorated with faintly flickering candles, each one casting a soft gleam of light onto Scripps’ face.  Crackling music drifted out of an ancient, battered record player, filling the room with the gentle strains of Ella Fitzgerald. The lights were dimmed, the room only illuminated by the orange glow of the candles.

Scripps rolled up the sleeves of his soft, sky blue jumper, rubbing a hand along the back of his neck.

“Happy Birthday, love,”

He walked over and proffered a courteous hand.

“Would you take this dance?”

Posner smiled and slipped his arms round Scripps’ waist.

“We should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least once,” he whispered, pressing a gentle kiss to Scripps’ lips.

Scripps laughed quietly. “Nee-shaw,”

Posner snorted. “Don’t remind me of Dakin on my birthday, Scrippsy dear,”

“Oh alright then,” Scripps grinned and Posner squealed as he whirled him round the room. Posner giggled as they slowed down, resting his head on Scripps’ shoulder, beaming. Scripps raised his arm, laughing as Posner twirled underneath it. The candlelight reflected off Posner’s shining eyes, bringing out the piercing blue. His face was a picture of joy.

Scripps smiled.

 “You don’t look 50, you know,”

Posner kissed his cheek.

“You’re a filthy liar, Donald Scripps, and you know it,”

Scripps spun him round and dropped him low to the ground, gazing into his gleaming sapphire eyes.

“Do you want your present yet?” he murmured, pulling Posner up to face him.

Posner clapped his hands excitedly.

“There’s more? Yes please!”

Don reached into his back pocket suspiciously, and held it there, clutching something unknown.

“David, I’ve loved you for nearly thirty years now. And for about fifteen years of them, we’ve been unofficially introducing each other as our husbands. But I was just wondering,” he smiled, getting down on one knee as David gasped. “Would you like to make that official?”

Posner burst into tears, sinking to the ground to throw his arms round Scripps. He nodded furiously, still sobbing as Scripps pulled him into a passion-fuelled kiss.

“Is that a yes?” he laughed, arms round his weeping partner.

Posner smacked his arm, grinning.

“Of course it’s a yes!”

Scripps beamed and slipped the thin gold band onto Posner’s finger.

“I bloody love you, the new Mr Posner - Scripps,”

Posner bit his lip thoughtfully.

“Mr David Posner - Scripps. I like that,”

“Do you think your students will like it?” Scripps grinned, raising an eyebrow.

“A couple of them won’t. There’s a reason I’ve banned you from playing piano for my choir,”

Scripps snorted and wrapped his arms around Posner, pulling him down onto the floor to lie next to him.

“Best. Birthday. Ever,” Posner whispered, staring up to the ceiling.

“So,” Scripps grinned, shifting onto his elbow to face him. “What are your plans for my birthday?”

 

 

“Hi Mum!” Scripps yelled down the phone.

A tutting noise echoed down the phone.

“There’s no need to shout dear, I’m not an invalid,”

Scripps sighed. “No, mum, you’re not. You’re just quite deaf!”

“What was that love?”

“Doesn’t matter, Mum!” he shouted irately.

“How are you dear? What’s been going on?” she replied, a grumbly tone hidden under her voice.

“I got engaged, Mum!”

“Oh, that’s lovely, dear,” A confused tone snuck into her next sentence. “To who?”

Scripps rolled his eyes and hoped she was too deaf to hear him harrumphing.

“David, Mum. My boyfriend!”

“Oh yes! Is it not his birthday today?”

“It is Mum. Good job remembering!”

“Did he get my present?”

“Yes Mum!” he huffed. A freshly washed and pressed nightie, one of her own, it seemed, had arrived that morning with a card addressed to ‘My loving Wife,’.

“Is one of the nurses there?” he asked, hearing the clattering behind her echo down the line.

“Yes dear. I don’t need nurses, why are they here?”

Scripps sighed patiently.

“We just got a bit worried about how forgetful you are, Mum. And Dad wasn’t very well!”

He heard his mother’s inevitable frown creep into her voice.

“When is he coming to visit me, Don?”

“Soon, Mum. Soon. I have to go now,” he replied sadly, hanging up.

He leaned against the wall as David popped his head round the door.

“How was that?” he asked sympathetically.

“Bad. She remembered your birthday. Forgot it was you I was engaged to. And asked me when Dad was coming next,”

“Oh, sweetie,” David whispered, hugging him. “She hasn’t realised he’s gone yet, has she?”

“No,” Don sighed. “I don’t think she’ll ever remember the funeral either. Apparently she forgot who Debbie was last week. Debbie’s still in pieces about it,”

“Will she be coming to the wedding?”

Scripps smiled dryly.

“Drill down any removable objects and we’ll see. She’s turning into a kleptomaniac according to the nurses,”

David laughed and kissed him on the nose.

“We could try telling my parents next? Dad will be delighted, he might finally accept that we’re in a serious relationship,”

Don groaned.

“ I don’t mean to upset you but I hate both your parents,”

David smiled.

“Don’t worry, love. I do too,”

 

 

Don stood anxiously by the door, rubbing his hands over each other to wipe away the sweat. He stiffened as Debbie ran over, panicked look emblazoned across her face.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, feeling the nerves build up, forming a protective lump in his throat. “Is it Mum?”

Debbie shook her head breathlessly, anxiety shining in her eyes.

“David,” she panted. “David isn’t ok. He’s panicking and I don’t know what to do other than ask you,”

“Shit,” he mumbled. “Shit, ok. Right, come on then,”

David had backed himself into a corner, breathing deeply as tears rolled down his cheeks. Don rushed over, wrapping his arms round Posner and hugging him. David stiffened, resisting the urge to push Don away, and run as far away as he could.

“Breathe with me,” Don whispered, feeling the tension melt out of David’s muscles as he hiccupped, still crying.

“Sorry. Sorry, sorry, sorry,” David choked. “Sorry. I’m being stupid, stupid, stupid,”

His voice rose higher and higher, each word punctuated with an emotional sob.

“Hey. Hey.” Don whispered, slowing his voice to bring down Posner’s rapid tones. “Hey. Why the tears? What are we going to do?”

Posner sniffled.

“What happens if I get it all wrong? What if you get cold feet? What if it all goes wrong?”

Scripps placed a hand gently on Posner’s trembling cheek.

“What if, what if, what if? None of it will happen. And there’s only 20 people here, David. No one minds,”

He kissed his forehead softly.

“And I think it’s very unlikely that I would get cold feet after 31 years,”

Posner smiled weakly.

“I’m scared, Don,”

Scripps clasped his hands, gripping them tightly.

“Just look at me. Look at my smile, look at how happy I am to marry you. No one else matters, just us,”

Posner nodded.

“Ok. Let’s get this show on the road,”

 

 

 

Don reached into his pocket, fumbling to find the smooth edges of the card. He pulled them out and started to read shakily, glancing up at David. His eyes were still slightly puffy and reddened but his tears were replaced with a beaming smile of joy.

“David. I’ve been in love with you since I was 18 years old. I’ve always known it was love, from the first moment I felt it. I knew I loved you. But I didn’t know I couldn’t live without you until I almost lost you for the first time,”

He glanced up at Posner’s eyes, bright blue shining with tears, and reached out to take his hand.

“David Posner, you have stolen my heart and broken it too many times to count. But every time you piece it back together, and there’s always more of you in there than before. I still love you, and I’ll always love you, through the worst and best of times. We’ve fought each other’s battles together for 31 years, and I’ll be damned if we stop now,”

David brought out his own cards, staring down at them momentarily. He looked up, turned to the congregation, smiled and remarked cheekily.

“Well everything I’ve written sounds a bit shit now,”

The entire congregation burst into uproarious laughter, tears rolling down Don’s cheeks as he beamed. David turned back to him.

“Don. You are the most amazing, brave, brilliant, funny, talented and all round good person that I have ever met. I am so grateful that you chose to love me. And you’re right. We’ve been through some hard times. And I’m just so happy that you stayed. I know that whenever my head tells me that everything is wrong, when I can’t seem to do anything, when I can’t even speak, I know you’ll be there. Because you’ve been there since the beginning, and I hope you’ll be there till the end. I love you more than I ever thought I could. ‘My heart is a hysterical, unreliable organ’, Scrippsy dear, but the one thing I know I can rely on is that I love you,”

He smiled at Don.

“Also, your sister owes me £20, you cried first,”

Don beamed through his tears, laughing at the look of eager happiness on David’s face. He leaned in and kissed him, grinning happily.

 

 

Scripps artfully weaved his way through the throngs of people towards Posner, finally locating him in the corner with a very animated Irwin. He slipped a hand round Posner’s waist, kissing his cheek.

“Alright?”

Posner smiled and returned the kiss.

“Good,”

Scripps glanced at Irwin and pointed into the crowd.

“Your boyfriend is pissed in there somewhere,”

Irwin blushed, furrowing his brow angrily.

“For fucks sake, Stu!” he muttered, storming off.

Posner raised an eyebrow.

“Is he really, or did you just want Tom to go away?”

Scripps looked away, abashed.

“Both,”

Posner wrapped an arm round Scripps’ neck, kissing him softly.

“That’s not very nice,”

Scripps pouted petulantly.

“I was only checking if you were ok! And looking for an excuse to avoid our parents,”

Posner snorted. “That sounds like a valid situation to escape from,”

Irwin marched over, dragging an incoherent Dakin behind him.

“Found him flirting his way round your cousins, David,” he scowled.

Dakin frowned.

“I wasn’t flirting!”

Irwin pursed his lips, clearly furious.

“Would harassment be a better term, Stuart?”

Stuart scowled.

“Fine,”

Posner rolled his eyes and leaned into Don, whispering into his ear.

“Can we go back into the other room?”

Scripps nodded understandingly and took his hand, taking him through the barricades of dull family.

 

“Are you alright?” he asked anxiously as they entered the room.

“Yes,” Posner breathed, smiling bravely. “I just..needed a minute, you know?”

Scripps breathed a sigh of relief, feeling the terror leak out of him.

“Yeah. Yeah, it’s quite cloying in there, isn’t it?” he grinned, hugging Posner.

“Your vows,” David smiled, eyes shining with tears. “They were beautiful,”

Scripps smiled sheepishly.

“Thanks, love. Yours were beautiful too. I especially loved that Nabokov quote,”

“I thought you would,” Posner laughed. “I put it in there specially,”

Scripps kissed him softly, snaking an arm round his waist to pull him in closer.

Posner smiled against his lips and broke off.

“Thought you were meant to save that for the wedding night,”

Scripps kissed him again, making him giggle.

“Shall we go back in then? Before they notice that we’ve escaped the asylum?”

Posner chuckled, grasping his hand and twirling.

“Let’s face the music and dance, Scrippsy dear,”

 

Posner collapsed against the door, throwing a dramatic hand across his chest.

“Home at last,” he groaned.

Scripps grinned and threw his suit jacket off, rolling up his shirt sleeves.

“That’s better,” Posner murmured, walking over. “You look more like yourself now,”

Scripps blushed and carefully slipped out a record, placing the needle onto the disc and smiling as the music flowed from the battered old player.

‘ _The party’s over now, the dawn is breaking very nigh,_

_The candles gutter, and the starlight leaves the sky_

_It’s time for little boys and girls to hurry home to bed,_

_For there’s a new day waiting just ahead,”_

“Would you take another dance, Mr Posner-Scripps?”

“Of course,” Posner whispered, taking his hand as they rocked around in circles.

_‘Night is over, dawn is breaking,_

_Everywhere the town is waking,_

_Just as we are on our way to sleep._

_Lovers meet and dance a little,_

_Snatching from romance a little_

_Souvenir of happiness to keep’_


End file.
